


Expanding the Horizons

by thestoryofme13



Series: More Than One Way to Love [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series), Thomas Sanders
Genre: Human AU, M/M, Platonic to romance, Polyamory, poly/mono
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 14:30:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14875536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thestoryofme13/pseuds/thestoryofme13
Summary: Summary: Roman comes to explain to Patton the fantastic news and Patton is surprised the others hadn’t known.





	Expanding the Horizons

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Food mention, Eating mention, crying mention, ignoring, flirting, insecurity, breakup mention, mushy feelings
> 
> A/N: This goes with the first poly/mono fic I posted, for some reason I decided to make it a series rather than chapters.....so like I dunno man.

Roman was beaming as he left the apartment. He just had to tell someone, he knew that Patton would gush with him, but that meant going to Patton’s work. Considering the amount of energy he found he had he decided to walk to go see his other flatmate.

 

After about a twenty-minute walk Roman came to the quaint little pet shop. He brought out his phone to check the time. While he really wanted to gush and talk to Patton about his fairytale he didn’t want to take him away from his work. Once his mind registered that he had his phone out to check the time and actually paid attention to it on the third try of him looking at his phone did his brain actually registered the time. He smiled to himself happy that he had managed to come right as Patton was getting off work. Roman looked through the window and saw Patton packing up and waved at him.

 

Patton noticed something moving out of his peripheral vision and looked up to find one of his closest friends waving at him. He smiled and waved back before finishing gathering the rest of his stuff and heading outside. Upon closer inspection he could tell that Roman was practically vibrating with excitement, “You sure are excited, Ro! Wanna go for a bite to eat and you can tell me all about it?”

 

Roman nodded violently and looped his arm through Patton’s as he walked at a quick pace to the Panera across the street. The other man was giggling as he was pulled to the restaurant. Once inside the pair ordered their usual and sat down.

 

Patton raised an eyebrow, “Are you going to spill?”

 

“ImdatingVirgi!!!,” Roman squealed.

 

Patton laughed, “I’m glad you two finally figured it out.”

 

Roman blinked a couple of times, a look of shock on his face, “Y--you aren’t surprised that he and I are dating? Or that I didn’t mention Logan?”

 

Patton shook his head, “No...You are? I assume Logi and Virge are still dating.” Roman nodded and Patton continued, “Which would make Virge polyam, right?”

 

Roman glared at the buzzer as it signaled the food was ready, then got up and retrieved their order, returning to the booth with ease, “You knew what polyamory was?” His voice small and shocked.

 

“Of course I knew. My friend is polyam and I go to the LGBTQA+ group on campus,” Patton said nonchalantly as he started eating his soup.

 

Roman sipped at his drink thoughtfully then set it on the table, “I didn’t realize that people were so vocal about it or at least not enough for you to know people….”

 

Patton smiled as he ate more of his soup, “Remy is loud about everything. They are about as flamboyantly gay as you are.”

 

Roman picked at his sandwich, “They…?” He asked letting the unspoken question hanging between them.

 

“Remy is non-binary, they prefer they/them pronouns specifically,” Patton stated with a smile as he picked apart his baguette.

 

Roman raised an eyebrow, “Are you polyamorous?”

 

Patton smiled and nodded, “Mhmm. I just realized I have a lot of love to give and if another person was interested, then having more than one partner would be fun! It would be like a never-ending adventure with my best friends.” He paused as he took a sip of his smoothie, “But I am demiromantic and demisexual so finding more than one person and getting the emotional bond I need before dating is more difficult.”

 

Roman smiled, “You sound like Logan....”

 

Patton nearly spit out his drink laughing, “Don’t tell him that! Remember the last time you got us confused?”

 

“He didn’t talk to me for a week and blatantly ignored me when I spoke, asking if there was a fly in the room….” Roman said pouting as he looked on at Patton.

 

Patton continued laughing eventually settling down enough to speak, “So I assume Logan was okay with this whole,” He paused, gesturing in the air with his hands, “thing?”

 

Roman rolled his eyes fondly, “He and Virgil were the ones who came and found me to talk about it…” He swirled his straw nervously around in his smoothie, “Hey Pat?” Patton nodded signifying Roman to continue, “How did you know you were polyamorous?”

 

Patton giggled, “That’s right you weren’t here on move-in day, something about being fashionably late,” he paused to smile at Roman and shoot him a cheeky wink then continued, “my parents came and helped, all _three_ of them.” He stated wiggling his eyebrows at Roman.

 

Roman’s heart thumped hard in his chest when Patton looked at him like that, it had to be something like--no. He pushed that thought aside and focused on processing what Patton had just said a look of realization on his face, “Oh--oh!” His brows furrowed, “But I thought you said, Remy…?” His thought trailed off as Patton smiled brightly.

 

“Remy told me the proper name for it. I always knew it was a thing, silly. I was raised by three very loving parents, who were not only loving of me but also each other.” Patton said then paused and smiled sadly, “Doesn’t mean I was able to skip the struggle....” He sighed then continued, “I still forgot that dating one person and having feelings for another at the same time wasn’t cheating and that I had no control over it. I would think maybe I didn’t love them or maybe I never loved them at all. I know now that this is all goobilty guck, but then even with three parents experiencing the love I was feeling, I didn’t recognize that it was okay.”

 

Roman smiled, “So how did you figure it out and finally come to terms with it?”

 

Patton returned his smile quickly chewing the piece of food in his mouth, “Well I was crying in my room one night because I thought I would have to break up with this amazing girl and my Dad came in and tried to figure out what was happening, so I told him. He laughed at me saying ‘Kiddo have your mom and Dads taught you nothing,’ then proceeded to explain that what I was feeling was valid and that even though it is not most people’s norm it was okay and I would find people to accept me for all my labels.”

 

“Have you ever had more than one partner?” Roman asked hesitantly feeling awkward prying into Patton’s life but also wanting to know more, after all, they were best friends.

 

Patton nodded his head vigorously, “A couple of times. I’ve had more than one partner where they weren’t involved with each other, I had one where all three of us were dating, and I had another that was two us involved in the more--uh---PG-13 stuff and the other partner was more G-rated.”

 

Roman felt a blush creeping up on his cheeks, biting his lip before he spoke, “Why do you not talk about any of these past loves? You seem so fond of each of relationship.” He paused choosing his next words carefully, “If you don’t mind me asking, I thought you said it was more difficult for you to become interested in someone…”

 

“I didn’t want you or any of the others to judge me for my past-- or for my feelings….” Patton trailed off leaving Roman to believe this is something he has had to hide in the past then plastered a smile at his friend trying to learn more and understand, “It can be difficult to find people but in high school I had a lot of close friends and once the friendship has blossomed it can easily become romantic for me...For me, a crush is when I want to know literally everything about the other person and since I am so happy and pappy people flocked to me.”

 

Roman moved from his seat and settled next to Patton leaning his weight against the other and ignoring the way his heart stuttered at the close touch, “I know for a fact that no one back at the apartment will care. I think I understand your demi, you used to be more open and outgoing but pulled back out of fear so it is less common _now.”_

 

Patton smiled and nodded interlacing his fingers with Roman’s, “Thank you, this helps. I couldn’t help but feel like I was hiding a part of myself. I’m not ashamed to be polyamorous, I just know from experience that there is safety in pretending to be ‘normal.’”

Roman’s eyes met Patton’s as he squeezed their interlaced hands, “Well now at home you do not have to pretend anymore if you do not wish.” He offered a reassuring smile.

 

“I don’t think I will pretend anymore. It made me feel all kinds of icky, but I will tell them when the time is right.” Patton said smiling as he spoke, feeling a weight off his shoulders, “Say Roo, are you polyamorous?”

 

Roman hesitated, honestly he hadn’t really thought about it but with the butterflies, he was trying to squash in his stomach he feared he did know the answer. Why he feared _that_ answer he didn’t know but for now, he would keep that idea to himself, “N--no I don’t think so.”

 

Patton nodded trying to fight the urge to get Roman to talk about it more. The only reason he thought Roman might be lying is the soft blush on the other’s cheeks and how clammy his hand was in his own. Patton decided that this would be an issue for another day and that Roman knowing he has someone to talk to about it should help in the long run and avoid any drama.


End file.
